UNU Migration Network Online

10 February 2014, Barcelona — The United Nations University (UNU) announces the launch of the UNU Migration Network.

Responding to the need of policymakers and scholars to understand and cope with migration-related issues in an interdisciplinary way, the new network — coordinated by the UNU Institute on Globalization, Culture and Mobility (UNU-GCM) — integrates UNU system research on migration.

Migration is a major global trend. Some 232 million people (3.2% of the world’s population) are now living outside the country of their birth, while countless more have migrated or are displaced within their countries. Some migrants cross international, regional and local boundaries in search of higher levels of education or better job opportunities. Others are fleeing from political conflict, social injustice or environmental disaster.

For individuals, migration simultaneously produces opportunities and risks, comforts and discomforts. For communities and societies, the influx of migrants can bring benefits but also gives rise to complex challenges for governments (and for inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations with stakes in the process).

The UNU Network on Migration seeks to contribute to evidence-based policymaking by presenting information on current events and activities of the global UNU system relating to migration. The network’s online portal also enables one-stop access to cutting-edge research on migration-related issues via a searchable web-based repository of UNU publications. At launch, the portal encompasses information about 37 research projects and provides access to more than 200 publications (reports, policy briefs, books, articles and working papers).

It is expected that the network will be a useful vehicle for the development of new synergies between UNU’s institutes, helping to both create and spread cutting-edge research.

The UNU Migration Network currently covers the work of five UNU institutes. More than 50 UNU experts are working in the five focus areas of the network: (i) forced migration, (ii) migration and health, (iii) migration and culture, (iv) migration governance and policy, and (v) migration and development.

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Quotes

“Migration is a crucial aspect of development, complex in its causes and consequences”, said Prof. Parvati Nair, Director of the Barcelona-based UNU Institute on Globalization, Culture and Mobility (UNU-GCM). “As old as humanity itself, migration is without doubt one of the major phenomena of our times that begs better understanding.”

“Migration is a complex phenomenon, embracing myriad key issues both for individuals and for governments/society”, said UNU Rector Dr. David Malone. “The new UNU Migration Network offers a unique opportunity for UNU scholars to address the interlinked dimensions of international migration and its positive role through collaborative, interdisciplinary research.”

“The UNU Migration Network portal is a dynamic and evolving tool”, said Dr. Valeria Bello, Research Fellow at UNU-GCM and coordinator of the UNU Migration Network. “Our expectation is that it will serve as an interdisciplinary forum where feasible initiatives and local practice, focused on the needs, benefits and challenges for migrants and migration process stakeholders, can be discussed more widely. Feedback from users regarding how best to support those involved in policymaking on migration is welcome.”

Aims of the UNU Network on Migration:

Examine, comprehensively and in depth, and from different disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, the needs of both voluntary and forced migrants;

Clarify linkages between differing approaches to study (such as those focusing on environmental causes versus those focusing on economic consequences);